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Phi
Brain is
one of the more intriguing anime
series produced in the last couple of years from its premise alone:
this is a
series that delves into the world of puzzles, and the central
characters are
essentially entrenched in ancient and modern puzzles from the beginning
to end
of each episode. Created in 2011, the Sunrise produced anime series is
an
ongoing creation that is developed and directed in part by Junichi Sato
(Sailor Moon, Kaleido Star).

The
central
character of the show is Kaito, a young and gifted student who has been
selected by his school's offbeat and mysterious organization P.O.G.
(Puzzle of
God) to solve puzzles as a designated "Solver" who works on
philosopher's
puzzles and other types of challenges. This involvement in the group
makes him
a "Phi Brain" candidate: someone who can use special powers to work his
magic
in puzzle solving to even greater extents than his brain would be
normally
capable of achieving.

Kaito
receives
this unique ability to increase his puzzle-solving skills through a
device that
is worn on is arm (fashionable, trendy, but also full of brain-energy
usefulness).
It helps to tap directly into Kaito's own abilities but it makes them
stronger
and more refined so that he is capable of solving puzzles he wouldn't
necessarily be able to otherwise.

The
series
presents Kaito as a character who is a go-with-the-flow type who simply
wants
to spend time solving puzzles for fun and for the challenge of it, but
who isn't
interested in the glamor of monetary success and "club membership"
bestowed
upon members of the P.O.G. Kaito would rather simply do them to
challenge
himself and to have fun, but something is drawing him to the
organization
regardless; perhaps the sheer sophistication of the puzzles.

Kaito
has a
close friend Nonoha, who is an equally smart and challenge-ready girl,
but she's
someone less interested in puzzles. She ends up joining in on many
quests and
puzzles as an additional person entrenched in the P.O.G. world, but she
uses
her other smarts to help out in other ways that are often life-saving.
She is a
close friend to Kaito since childhood, and both Nonoha and Kaito are as
close
to one another as jam or peanut butter is to sliced bread.

The
series is
presented in a mostly episodic fashion. Each episode tends to focus in
on
different puzzles that wind up being worked on by Kaito with Nonoha's
help aiding
the entire process. It doesn't simply follow a completely
by-the-numbers
approach, however, as signs indicate that it doesn't stop with "puzzle
of the
week" writing and elements are added into the scripts to bring about
some solid
character development and hints of more to come in future episodes,
such as
more to the storyline of the P.O.G. group itself.

Junichi
Sato is
one of my favorite director's in the world of anime. With Sailor Moon,
he was brilliant
at creating strong, fun, and entertaining characters that you could
always get
behind: something about his craft made his contributions a perfect mesh
with
that romantic-inclined fantasy world. With Kaleido
Star, he told with beautiful measure a story of encouragement
aiming to
uplift spirits and reaffirm the notion that dreams are to be followed. Phi-Brain is something else entirely
because it's a different style of series than what he has previously
become
involved in. Yet it still has a unique flair and approach that keeps it
interesting.

The
bottom line
is that Sato has always been more interested in developing and
exploring the characters
within his projects. This is something that has become an essential
benefit to
his anime productions. Sato seems to intrinsically understand that
characters
are the main and fundamental element to good storytelling and that to
make a
good series he has to focus on developing the characters first and
foremost.

An
entire production
can sink if nothing else is registering for viewers beyond the quality
of the
production values: audiences won't be as interested in the action
sequences,
game puzzles, or in the quality of animation if the characters aren't
interesting
and this is something that makes this series all the more top-class in
quality
as Sato continues to deliver as a director who cares about making the
characters a top priority.

Phi
Brain is a
fun anime series and it's one that
should appeal to a number of anime fans as it's something with a little
bit for
everyone: solid characters, good writing, excellent direction, and
beautiful animation
make up the backbone of the show. The series also contains many layers
in how
it utilizes comedy, drama, action, adventure, mystery, and more
genre-elements throughout.
The balance of genre elements with character development is central to
what
makes Phi Brain as compelling as it is and a more well-rounded creation.

The
Blu-ray:

Video:

The
1080p
encoded High Definition video is presented with the 1.78:1 widescreen
aspect
ratio which preserves the original television broadcasts as intended.
This is a
gorgeous quality HD presentation that is beautifully crisp, clean, and
jubilant
in reproducing the wide color pallet. Audiences will be pleased to see
such an
impressive and vibrant presentation.

Audio:

The
2.0 Japanese and English
DTS-HD Master Audio tracks are crisp and have higher-quality dynamics
as one
would expect for a lossless presentation. The audio is a good match for
the
series video presentation. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand.
The music
sounds quite impressive especially and the stereo presentation has a
lot more "oomph"
to it despite not involving the surrounds for added effects. This is a
quality
audio presentation that works.

Additional
Screenshots:

Click on
an image to view the Blu-ray
screenshot with 1080p resolution

Extras:

The
only bonus features included are clean opening and
closing themes and a few trailers for other anime releases.

Final
Thoughts:

Phi
Brain is a
well-made anime series with good
characters and a host of fun elements: comedy, action, adventure, and
mystery
surrounding it all. This series also appears to have worked well with
audiences
as a second season has already aired in Japan and a third season has
even been green-lit
for production. I'm enjoying the show and anime fans should certainly
check it
out because it might just turn out to be one of the more intriguing
series to
be released this year.

Highly
Recommended.

Neil Lumbard is a lifelong fan of cinema, and a student who aspires to make movies. He loves writing, and currently does in Texas.